A long-reach coexisting PON system (1G/10G-EPON, video, and TWDM-PON) that uses the Wavelength Selective-Asymmetrical optical SPlitter (WS-ASP) without any active devices like optical amplifiers is proposed. The proposal can take into account the subscriber distribution in an access network and provide specific services in specific areas by varying the splitting ratios and the branch structure in the optical splitter. Simulations confirm the key features of WS-ASP, its novel process for deriving the splitting-ratios and greater transmission distance than possible with symmetrical splitters. Experiments on a prototype system demonstrate how wavelengths can be assigned to specific areas and optical link budget enhancement. For 1G-EPON systems, the prototype system with splitting-ratio of 60% attains the optical link budget enhancement of 4.2dB compared with conventional symmetrical optical splitters. The same prototype offers the optical link budget enhancement of 4.0dB at the bit rate of 10G-EPON systems. The values measured in the experiment agree well with the simulation results with respect to the transmission distance.

This paper presents a water leakage monitoring system that gathers acoustic data of water pipes using wireless communication technology and identifies the sound of water leakage using machine leaning technology. To collect acoustic data effectively, this system combines three types of data-collection methods: drive-by, walk-by, and static. To design this system, it is important to ascertain the wireless communication distance that can be achieved with sensors installed in a basement. This paper also reports on radio propagation from underground manholes made from reinforced concrete and resin concrete in residential and commercial areas using the 920 MHz band. We reveal that it is possible to design a practical system that uses radio communication from underground sensors.

In the near future, many sensors and terminals will be connected to the public network to provide various convenient IoT/M2M services. In order to connect many sensors to the network efficiently, wireless communication systems in the 920MHz band are seen as attractive solutions. We are focusing on the 920MHz band to research and develop high-capacity protocols that can accommodate many terminals, and low power consumption technologies for battery-driven terminals. In this paper, we describe the following three concrete wireless systems that use our proposals. (1) A physical distribution pallet management system that can handle thousands of pallet-embedded sensors and a wireless module with a battery lifetime of about ten years. (2) Water leakage monitoring system for underground pipes by using sensors and a wireless module in each valve box. (3) A wide-area and high-capacity radio relay system for smart metering services like the reading of gas meters. The radio relay system can accommodate various sensors and terminals and has large potential for providing various IoT/M2M services in conjunction with smart metering services.

The widespread use and increasing popularity of broadband service has prompted a focus on the measurement and analysis of its empirical performance in recent studies. The worldwide view of broadband performance has been examined over the short term with Speedtest.net, but research in this area has not yet provided a long-term evolutionary insight on how DSL, Cable, and Fiber access technologies have influenced on user experience. In this study, we present 6 years of measurement results, from 2006 to 2011, of broadband performance with fast developing broadband networks in Korea. With 57% Fiber penetration in 2011, our data consist of a total of 29M test records and 10M subscribers. Over the 6 years, we have observed a 2.9-fold improvement in download speed (57Mbps), 2.8-fold increase in upload speed (38Mbps), and 0.7-fold decrease in latency due to the high penetration rate of Fiber broadband service and the advanced Cable modem technology. In addition, we carried out longitudinal analysis of various aspects of services, providers, regions, and cost-performance. We believe that the evolutionary Korean broadband measurement results can shed light on how high-speed access technologies are substantially enhancing on end-to-end performance.

Ring aggregation networks are widely employed for metro access networks. A layer-2 ring with Ethernet Ring Protection is a popular topology for carrier services. Since frames are forwarded along ring nodes, a fairness scheme is required to achieve throughput fairness. Although per-node fairness algorithms have been developed for the Resilient Packet Ring, the per-node fairness is insufficient if there is bias in a flow distribution. To achieve per-flow fairness, N Rate N+1 Color Marking (NRN+1CM) was proposed. However, NRN+1CM can achieve fairness in case there are sufficient numbers of available bits on a frame header. It cannot be employed if the frame header cannot be overwritten. Therefore, the application range of NRN+1CM is limited. This paper proposes a Signaling based Discard with Flags (SDF) scheme for per-flow fairness. The objective of SDF is to eliminate the drawback of NRN+1CM. The key idea is to attach a flag to frames according to the input rate and to discard them selectively based on the flags and a dropping threshold. The flag is removed before the frame is transmitted to another node. The dropping threshold is cyclically updated by signaling between ring nodes and a master node. The SDF performance was confirmed by employing a theoretical analysis and computer simulations. The performance of SDF was comparable to that of NRN+1CM. It was verified that SDF can achieve per-flow throughput fairness without using a frame header in ring aggregation networks.

With shortest path bridging MAC (SPBM), shortest path trees are computed based on link metrics from each node to all other participating nodes. When an edge bridge receives a frame, it selects a path along which to forward the frame to its destination node from multiple shortest paths. Blocking ports are eliminated to allow full use of the network links. This approach is expected to use network resources efficiently and to simplify the operating procedure. However, there is only one multipath distribution point in the SPBM network. This type of network can be defined as an end-to-end multipath network. Edge bridges need to split flows to achieve the load balancing of the entire network. This paper proposes a rate-based path selection scheme that can be employed for end-to-end multipath networks including SPBM. The proposed scheme assumes that a path with a low average rate will be congested because the TCP flow rates decrease on a congested path. When a new flow arrives at an edge bridge, it selects the path with the highest average rate since this should provide the new flow with the highest rate. The performance of the proposed scheme is confirmed by computer simulations. The appropriate timeout value is estimated from the expected round trip time (RTT). If an appropriate timeout value is used, the proposed scheme can realize good load balancing. The proposed scheme improves the efficiency of link utilization and throughput fairness. The performance is not affected by differences in the RTT or traffic congestion outside the SPBM network.

High-speed wireless access technologies have evolved over the last years setting new challenges for TCP. That is, to effectively utilize the available network resources and to minimize the effects of wireless channel errors on TCP performance. This paper introduces a new TCP variant, called TCP-BIAD aiming at enhancing TCP performance in broadband wireless access networks. We provide analytical expressions for evaluating the stability, throughput, fairness and friendliness properties of our proposal, and we validate our results by means of computer simulations. Initial results presented in this paper show that this approach achieves high network utilization levels in a wide range of network conditions, while maintaining an adequately fair and friendly behavior with respect to coexisting TCP flows.

This paper describes mobile backhaul optical access network designs for future cellular systems, in particular, for those systems that exploit coordinated multipoints (CoMP) transmission/reception techniques. Wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical networks (WDM-PON) are primarily considered and two proposals to enhance mobile backhaul capability of WDM-PONs for CoMP are presented. One is physical X2 links that support dedicated low latency and high capacity data exchange between base stations (BSs). The other is multicasting in WDM-PONs. It effectively reduces data/control transmission time from central node to multiple BSs joining CoMP. Evaluation results verify that the proposed X2 links and the multicasting enable more BSs to join CoMP by enhancing the mobile backhaul capability, which results in improved service quality for users.

We propose Turbo-coded two-dimensional (2-D) free-space optical (FSO) CDMA systems for broadband access networks. The performance bound for the proposed system over atmospheric turbulence channels is obtained considering multiple-access interference (MAI) and receiver noise. The results show that the proposed system offers a better performance than that of previously proposed ones. Also, it has a better tolerance to the atmospheric turbulence and the increase in the number of users.

This paper provides insights on the status of broadband optical access market and technologies in Europe and on the expected trends for the next generation optical access networks. The final target for most operators, cities or any other player is of course FTTH (Fibre To The Home) deployment although we can expect intermediate steps with copper or wireless technologies. Among the two candidate architectures for FTTH, PON (Passive Optical Network) is by far the most attractive and cost effective solution. We also demonstrate that Ethernet based optical access network is very adequate to all-IP networks without any incidence on the level of quality of service. Finally, we provide feedback from a FTTH pilot network in Colmar (France) based on Gigabit Ethernet PON technology. The interest of this pilot lies on the level of functionality required for broadband optical access networks but also on the development of new home network configurations.

We demonstrate a wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) based on wavelength-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes and thin-film filters. Twelve Fast Ethernet signals are bi-directionally transmitted over the multi-branch optical distribution network (ODN). The ODN has distributed branch nodes and bus networks.

The Project Authorization Request (PAR) for the IEEE P1900.4 Working Group (WG), under the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 41 (SCC41) was approved in December 2006, leading to this WG being officially launched in February 2007 [1]. The scope of this standard is to devise a functional architecture comprising building blocks to enable coordinated network-device distributed decision making, with the goal of aiding the optimization of radio resource usage, including spectrum access control, in heterogeneous wireless access networks. This paper introduces the activities and work under progress in IEEE P1900.4, including its scope and purpose in Sects. 1 and 2, the reference usage scenarios where the standard would be applicable in Sect. 4, and its current system architecture in Sect. 5.

Internet access traffic follows hourly patterns that depend on various factors, such as the periods users stay on-line at the access point (e.g. at home or in the office) or their preferences for applications. The clustering of Internet users may provide important information for traffic engineering and billing. For example, it can be used to set up service differentiation according to hourly behavior, resource optimization based on multi-hour routing and definition of tariffs that promote Internet access in low busy hours. In this work, we propose a methodology for clustering Internet users with similar patterns of Internet utilization, according to their hourly traffic utilization. The methodology resorts to three statistical multivariate analysis techniques: cluster analysis, principal component analysis and discriminant analysis. The methodology is illustrated through measured data from two distinct ISPs, one using a CATV access network and the other an ADSL one, offering distinct traffic contracts. Principal component analysis is used as an exploratory tool. Cluster analysis is used to identify the relevant Internet usage profiles, with the partitioning around medoids and Ward's method being the preferred clustering methods. For the two data sets, these methods lead to the choice of 3 clusters with different hourly traffic utilization profiles. The cluster structure is validated through discriminant analysis. It is also evaluated in terms of several characteristics of the user traffic not used in the cluster analysis, such as the type of applications, the amount of downloaded traffic, the activity duration and the transfer rate, resulting in coherent outcomes.

We propose a scheme by which Broadcast Satellite/Communication Satellite- radio frequency (BS/CS-RF) converted TV signals are transmitted over optical fiber, and also propose a simultaneous Frequency Modulation (FM) converted CATV and BS/CS-RF converted TV optical transmission system as one of its applications. To confirm the proposals, we demonstrate the simultaneous transport of FM converted CATV signals and BS/CS-RF converted TV signals over a single optical fiber. In the experiments, 40 carriers of AM-VSB CATV channels, 30 carriers of 64-QAM digital TV channels, 8 carriers of FM/TC8PSK BS-TV channels, and 12 carriers of QPSK CS-TV channels are simultaneously transmitted. For optical access network application, the practical transmission length of 15 km over 1.3 µm-zero-dispersion optical fiber can be achieved by using dispersion compensation fiber (DCF).

To generate multiple orthogonal carriers in an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbol, an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and IFFT (Inverse FFT) pair is utilized at the transmitter and the receiver, respectively. Thus, it may be difficult for an MN (Mobile Node) to reconstruct signals received from several BSs (Base Stations), when single FFT module is used. Moreover, when a GPS (Global Position System) is not supported, ICI (Inter Carrier Interference) may occur over multi-cell environments. This paper introduces a synchronization protocol for OFDM-based asynchronous networks that do not use GPS. The network protocol is designed to perform the plug & access radio configuration for next generation networks.

Multihop techniques in CDMA radio access networks, enable dead-spot mobile stations, which cannot communicate with base stations directly, to send data to them via other mobile stations. In this paper, we propose a mechanism for establishing connections and relaying packets between mobile stations. In this mechanism, the mobile stations are connected to one another and relay packets through a random access channel, which is an uplink common channel. In addition, our mechanism satisfies the requirements for applying multihop techniques to third generation radio access networks. Moreover, we also discuss our evaluation of the performance of the mechanism through computer simulations. The results we obtained reveal that it is capable of reducing dead-spot mobile stations and improving throughput with only limited modifications to conventional systems. Furthermore, we propose an adaptive transmission power control to enhance our mechanism and also evaluate this method through computer simulations.

As an access network to the Internet, CATV/HFC network has been widespread recently. Such a network employs a reservation access method under which reservation and data transmission periods appear by turns. Before data transmission, a station must send a request in a random access manner during the reservation period called a request cluster. If the cluster size is large, the probability of request collision occurrence becomes small. A large cluster size however increases the packet transmission delay. Moreover the throughput decreases since vacant duration of reservation period increases. DOCSIS, a de facto standard for the networks, employs the binary back-off method for request cluster allocation. Since that method normally allocates unnecessary large request cluster, the transmission delay increases under heavy load conditions. In this paper, we propose a request cluster allocation method which dynamically changes the cluster size according to the load conditions. In order to evaluate performance of the proposed method, we build a queuing model and execute computer simulation. Simulation result shows that the proposed method provides smaller delay than the binary back-off method.

In wireless access system, we need to use a limited frequency and electric power efficiently. And so we propose the fixed wireless access network using 5 GHz frequency which band has a good propagation performance in line of sight (LOS). In the proposed network, the several multi-level modulation methods are combined and identical frequency is reused by considering on the antenna directivity. As constructing this network, we can efficiently use frequency in 5 GHz band and enlarge system capacity. In this paper, it is assumed that user terminals are distributed nonuniformly over the service area. We analyze accommodation number of user terminals and the optimum combination of modulation methods. Numerical results show that most effective method is the combination of 16QAM and 256QAM, which can accommodate up to about 1.4 times as many users as only QPSK modulation method.

This paper presents a fuzzy control-based intelligent medium access controller (FiMAC), which optimizes random access control between heterogeneous traffic aiming at more efficient voice/data integrated services in dynamic reservation TDMA-based broadband radio access networks. In order to achieve the design objective, viz. a differentiated quality-of-service (QoS) guarantee for individual service plus maximal system resource utilization, the FiMAC intelligently and independently controls the random access parameters such as the lengths of random access regions dedicated to respective service traffic and the corresponding permission probabilities, frame-by-frame basis. In addition, we have adopted a mobile-assisted random access mechanism where the voice terminal readjusts a global permission probability from the FiMAC, to handle the 'fair access' issue resulting from distributed queueing problems inherent in the access network. Our extensive simulation results indicate that the FiMAC is well coordinated with a mobile-assisted mechanism such that significant improvements are achieved in terms of voice capacity, delay, and fairness over most of the existing MAC schemes for the integrated services.

This paper proposes an asymmetric bandwidth access network based on super-dense wavelength-division multiplexing (SD-WDM) technologies; the network guarantees 100 Mbps upstream and 1 Gbps downstream bandwidth to each user and supports wide-area transmission. The network minimizes operation and administration costs by consolidating switching equipment, as well as minimizing wavelength monitoring/stabilization functions by employing two technologies; the optical multi-carrier supply module (OCSM) for creating downstream signals and the directly modulated spectrum slicing scheme for creating upstream signals. After describing the configuration and features of the presented network, we demonstrate a bandwidth guaranteed network for each of 64 users with 100 Mbps upstream and 1 Gbps downstream bandwidth. The network provides 10-km access lines with under 7-dB loss from users to the access node and a 120-km metro-loop transmission line with under 25-dB loss from the access node to the center node.